Those who are frequent users of the Internet will recognize the phrase “instant messaging”. Generally speaking, instant messaging allows one person (the “sender”) to communicate with another (the “recipient”) without having to enter the e-mail address of the recipient. Usually, the sender selects an intended recipient from a list of possible recipients (the list is sometimes referred to as a “buddy list”). To date, the vast majority of instant messaging services are aimed at “wired” users. That is, in order to make use of an instant messaging service, both the sender and the recipient must be connected physically or otherwise hard-wired to one or more networks. Typically, this is accomplished when both the sender and recipient are sitting behind their personal computers which are linked together through one or more Internet Service Providers and local exchange carriers (e.g., data or telephone companies). Provided the sender and recipient are so hard-wired, both can participate in the transmission and reception of instant messages.
Our world, however, is quickly becoming “wireless”. Increasingly, we are communicating with one another using wireless devices, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or pagers, to name just a few examples. It is believed that instant messaging will become increasingly popular among those people who are using wireless devices as well. Providing such a capability will allow users of wireless devices to send instant messages to other wireless and wired device users.
One of the challenges in providing a wireless, instant messaging capability is tracking the presence, absence, location and other information (collectively referred to as “Estatus”) associated with a wireless device (and its user).
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for methods, systems and devices for tracking wireless devices.
It is further desirable to provide methods, systems and devices for tracking wireless devices in order to provide a wireless, instant messaging capability.
Other desires related to the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims.